Tensioning mechanism for winding apparatus



Aug. 14, 1934. c. SHELDON TENSIONING MECHANISM FOR WINDING APPARATUSFiled July 50, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l Affarrzfy Aug. 14, 1934.

| c. SHELDON 1,969,906

TENSIONING MECHANISM FOR WINDING APPARATUS Filed July 30. 1932 2Sheets-Sheet 2 @wezzfor 11 ffaryzy Patented Aug. 14, 1934 TENSIONINGDIECHANISM FOR WINDING I APPARATUS Leonard Sheldon, Hillsgrove, R. I.

Application July 30, 1932, Serial No. 626,596

8 Claims.

My present invention relates to the winding of elastic threads, and hasparticular reference to the winding of elastic threads in themanufacture of golf balls and the like.

In the manufacture of golf balls the ball core is positioned betweenrollers, one of the rollers being positively driven, and another of therollers being resiliently pressed. against the core, whereby therotation of the positively driven roller causes the 39 ball core'to.roll and pullelastic thread from a source of supply, thus windingthe'elastic thread upon itself to build up the ball.

It has been found difficult to control the tension of the elastic threadduring winding, as the speed of rotation of the ball surface changes asthe ball builds up, and the speed of feed of the elastic thread changesin a corresponding manner. It is the principal object of my invention toprovide a tensioning apparatus for the elastic thread that will maintaina constant tension on the thread regardless of its speed of feed. It hasbeen found desirable to form golf balls with a core of threads woundunder one tension, and an outer layer of threads wound under a differenttension; 7 this procedure has heretofore required difierent windingmachines, and resultant loss of time in changing over. It is therefore afurther object of my invention to provide a tensioning apparatus whichmay be regulated to change the tension on the thread, the changebeinggradual or abrupt, as desired, regardless of the speed of feed ofthe thread. I,

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in View, theinvention consists of a novel method of winding, and a novel apparatusfor winding, more fully disclosed in the detailed description following,in. conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specificallydefined in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly broken away,of a' golf ball windingapparatus;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the lower portion thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan View, partly insection, of the tensioningmechanism;

Fig. l is a diagrammatic view showing the thread travel through thetensioning device; Fig. 5 is an elevation, partly in section, of-aclutch mechanism for a modified construction of tensioning device;

Fig. 6 is an elevation, and Fig. 7 is a section thereof on the line 7-7of Fig. 6, of a further modified. form of tensioning device; and.

' Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively a plan and an iii elevation of a stillfurther modified. form of tensioning device. I Referring to thedrawings, theball winding' machine 10 includes a base 11, on which asupport standard 12 is mounted to rotatably support a reel 13 of elasticthread orthe like, the reelbeing provided with a central boreor the liketo receive a fixed conical bearing 14 and a movable conical bearing 15,in the usual manner. The thread, indicated at 16, is carried through atensioning mechanism, hereinafter described, and. is wound on a ballcore 17, which is rotatably seated on two spaced rollers 18, 19, havingarcuate ball re-. ceiving recesses, one of said rollers being positivelydriven; a third roller 20 of similar formation is rotatably mounted in asupport arm 21 which is pivoted to the machine base and is resilientlyurged downward by a spring or the'like 22 to bring the roller 20 intocontacting engagement with the rotating ball core.

The tensioning mechanism includes spaced grooved pulleys 23, 24 "whichare rotatably, mounted on shafts 25, 26, ball bearings being] utilizedto reduce friction, the pulleys having hubs 2'7, 28 to'which gears 29,3O aresecured, these gears being of different diameter, and in mesh.

As will be noted in Fig. 4, the thread 16 is wound 7 around pulley 24,.is led to pulley 23 to wind around in the reverse direction, an veyed tothe ball core 17.

It is therefore clear thatjtherotating d is then conball core .pulls thethread as it rolls, thus winding the ferent rotative speed because oftheir positive gearing, andthe thread is therefore fedjto -the ball coreunder a constant tension, the, amount of the' tension dependingon theproportionate of gears 29 and 28 are in the proportion of 5to" 1,. thethread will be stretched 1 in 5, and this tension will, be maintainedregardless of the changing pull of the ball core as its diameterincreases and its speed of rotation changes. I It has been founddesirable, in certain constructions, to change the tension so as toobtain a very hard center and a more resilient surface covering. Thisconstruction has heretofore necessitated winding the center on onemachine, and the outer covering on another; the described tensioningarrangement, however, permits a modification that enables the windingtobe com-j pleted on one machine. 5

5" speeds 'of the gears "I'hus, ifv the,,.per ipheries Thus, see Fig. 5,the tensioning mechanism may be mounted in supports 30 having spacedarms, each pulley shaft 25a being elongated to have two gears 31, 32rotatably mounted thereon, these gears having clutch members orthe like33, ,34 to selectively receive a clutch collar 35 which .is keyed to thepulley shaftand which is manually movable by means of a linkage 36of'standard type to obtain the desired gear. engagement. Since the gears31, 32 which are operatively con nected to pulley 24a and theircorresponding meshing gears which are operatively connected to the otherpulley, are of different diameters, the relative speeds of the two'pulleysmay thus be selectively changed and the tension of the elasticthread made different. a

If it is preferred to run the elastic thread over the pulleys in thesame direction, a construction a such as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 maybeused, the pulleys 23b and 2 b having their gears 3'7, 38 operativelyconnected by an idler gear 39. This construction permits the winding ofthe elastic thread'in the same direction in the two pulleys.

If a gradual change of tension is desired, a

construction such as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 may be used, in whichthepulleys 23c and 24c have cone pulleys 40,, 41 mounted on theirrespective shafts42, 43, a slidable double bevel contact disk 44 beingmounted between the cone pulleys to change the tension to any desiredvalue. The contact disk support 45 has a rack bar 47 mounted thereon,which meshes with a gear 48 that is preferably manually rotated by meansof a' suitable handle secured to the gear shaft.

1 It is therefore evident that the novel method and the novelconstruction are simple, are effective, and function regardless of thespeed of movement or 'pull .of the elastic threads. More- I over, thetension may be readily changed, as

myinvention, it is'clear that desired changes in.

-. size, in proportion, and in arrangement of the parts, maybe made tosuit therequirements or needs of different'installations, within thespirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.I I I claim i l. A method of winding "speeds at spaced points, andchanging the relative speed during the winding.

2. A method of winding golf balls and the like with elastic thread,comprising the steps of rotating the golf ball core to pull the threadand wind the thread thereon, maintaining a desired tension bycausing thethread to move at different speeds atspaced points, and abruptlychanging the relative speed during the winding.

3. In a tensioning device for winding machines, spaced pulleys. having,thread receiving grooves, shafts for said pulleys, a plurality of gearson each shaft, and means for selectively meshing the. gears on saidshafts to obtain predetermined relative speeds of rotation of saidpulleys.

4'. In a tensioning device for winding machines, spaced pulleys havingthread receiving grooves,

shafts for said pulleys, and gearing connecting said shafts includingspaced friction cones and a movable intermediate roller.

5. In a machine for utilizing elastic threads, meansfor conveyingelastic thread from a source of supply to a point of use, means formaintaining theconveyedthread at a uniform tension,

comprising means for regulating the speed of advance of the thread atspaced points so as to obtain different speeds of advance at saidpoints, and means for changingthe ratio of said speeds.

6. In a machine for utilizing elastic threads, means for conveyingelastic thread from a source of supply to a point of use, means formaintaining the conveyed thread at a uniform ten'sion, comprising meansfor regulating the speed of advance of the thread at spaced points so asto obtain different speeds of advance at said points,

and the like, means for rotating a ball core to pull an elastic threadand wind the thread thereon, altensioning device for establishing adefinite tension on the thread, said thread passing therethrough, meansresponsive to the pull of the thread for actuating the tensioning deviceto apply the definite tension to the thread, and means for varying thetension which is set up j in the thread by the tensioning device, duringthe winding of the thread. 8; In a machine for manufacturing golf ballsand the like, means for rotating a ball core to pull an'elastic threadand wind the thread thereon, a tensioning device for establishing adefinite tension on the thread, said thread passingthere through, meansresponsive to the pull of the H thread for actuating the tensioningdevice to apply the' definite tension to the thread, and golf balls and'theflike with elastic'thread, comprising the steps of rotat-j meansforabruptly varying the tension which isset upin the thread by thetensioning devic during the winding of the thread. I

LEONARD C. SHELDON.

